Mary Beth Hurt, the three-time Tony-nominated actress best known for roles in The Age of Innocence and Six Degrees of Separation, has died at the age of 79. Her daughter Molly Schrader announced the news on Instagram, revealing that Hurt passed away on Saturday after a decade-long battle with Alzheimer's disease, diagnosed in 2015.
In her post, Molly wrote: 'Yesterday morning we lost my mom, Mary Beth, to Alzheimer's after a decade long battle with the disease. She was an actress, a wife, a sister, a mother, an aunt, a friend, and she took on all those roles with grace and a kind ferocity. Although we're grieving there is some comfort in knowing she is no longer suffering and is reunited with her sisters in peace.'
Born Mary Beth Supinger on 25 September 1946 in Marshalltown, Iowa, Hurt was babysat as a child by actress Jean Seberg. She studied acting at the University of Iowa and New York University before making her stage debut in the 1974 off-Broadway production More Than You Deserve. She earned Tony nominations for Trelawny of the Wells (1975), Crimes of the Heart (1981) and Benefactors (1985-86).
Hurt made her film debut in Woody Allen's Interiors (1978) and went on to appear in The World According to Garp (1982), The Age of Innocence (1993), Six Degrees of Separation (1993), Autumn in New York (2000), The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), The Dead Girl (2006), Lady in the Water (2006) and Young Adult (2011). She also appeared in television series including Kojak, Thirtysomething, Saturday Night Live and Law & Order.
She was married to actor William Hurt from 1971 to 1982, and later to filmmaker Paul Schrader from 1983 until her death. She is survived by her husband, daughter Molly, and son Sam.
